Captain Blood

The archetypal pirate story. Treasure Island might have given us all of the iconic images we know and love in popular culture – the parrots and peglegs and pieces-of-eight – but Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood is the sort of rich, all-encompassing pirate adventure you lived for when you were a kid. There are sea battles and broadsides, cutthroats and 'repel all boarders', pirate ports like Tortuga and intimidating forts like Port Royal and Hispaniola, feckless governors and bosom-heaving governors' daughters, villainous Spaniards and disdainful Frenchmen, piratical tricks and roguery, victory from the jaws of defeat, rapier-like dialogue and verbal jousting, cutlasses and gunsmoke and plunder.

Even more importantly, Captain Blood is show more the book which presented most convincingly the image of the romantic, noble pirate (in Treasure Island, the pirates – led by Long John Silver – are definitely the bad guys). Blood himself is a gentleman, an escaped slave imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, who still has "some rags of honour… remaining me from better days" (pg. 105). Furthermore, in Blood, the sea is "free to all, and particularly alluring to those who feel themselves at war with humanity" (pg. 87). The influence on the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean is strong, almost overpowering (as a small criticism, some of the flavour of the story can be lost in how familiar it has become). Young boys with their rubber eyepatches and cardboard cutlasses are, in their adventures, more likely imitating noble Blood than the ruffian Long John Silver, even if they do not know it.

I was also fascinated to note the book's influence on my favourite writer, George MacDonald Fraser, author of Flashman. GMF swore by it – and by Sabatini – and if the only dedicated pirate stories he wrote were the comical fluff The Pyrates and the posthumous manuscript Captain in Calico, then Captain Blood's style is nevertheless clearly felt in all his prose. For Sabatini's prose is rich and colourful, that rare sort of book where you gorge yourself on the words without becoming bogged down in them. Captain Blood has those two ingredients essential for a crowd-pleasing cracker – pace and spicy dialogue – in spades, and plenty more besides. Character, plot and setting are all top-drawer. If you "would like to see an action fought at sea as an action should be fought, this is your opportunity" (pg. 206). show less

"Captain Blood paced the poop of his ship alone in the tepid dusk, and the growing golden radiance of the great poop lantern in which a seaman had just lighted the three lamps"

Tell me you didn't snicker a little bit reading that sentence.

So, right off the bat, there are some pretty glaring things one needs to overlook as an anarchist reading this book:

The protagonist is assumed to be a better pirate for his professional-class upbringing: he is without the trappings of a more proletarian pirate who might be swayed by animal urges of barbarism. He keeps his class signifiers by shaving and wearing the finest silks and etc. Furthermore, Peter Blood is consistently praised for his absolute control over the more proletarian elements of his show more fleet with a lot of talk about their utter submission to his will. Peter Blood then parlays his pirating gig into the governorship of an important colony to the English crown. So Peter Blood merely dabbles in brigandage, and returns after only a couple of years to his position of privilege.

The only woman mentioned in the book is the love interest, who, though described as tomboyish and irreverent to female expectation, swoons and pouts and acts almost exclusively in the proscribed literary feminine role. In contrast to the main character and many others throughout the book, Arabelle is one-dimensional.

There are mentions of black people throughout the book, but they are referred to exclusively as slaves, and often with wince-worthy blood quota language: "her octaroon" for example. The chattel slaves are never given more than a passing mention, despite sometimes playing important roles in battles (I'm thinking here of the de Riverarol raid on Cartagena). They often announce the presence of other characters, rather than have a presence themselves. This is disappointing, too.

If you ignore the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy of the book, however (ha ha), this was a great swashbuckling pirate tale, a good escape book. The scenes of battle are riveting if sometimes confusing to a landlubber. The best parts are Peter Blood's quick tongue and knack for putting those in power out of it, and never compromising. Pretty much every tin-pot governor and admiral is given a choice to go against his will and die a horrible death, or be allowed to live by Peter Blood's generosity. It makes for fantastic reading. show less

When I was growing up, my companions were Karl May, Mayne Reid and Emilio Salgari. Their tales of adventure made me a reader in a lot of ways. Rafael Sabatini should have been in that list but the Bulgarian edition was in 4 hardcover volumes, with white covers (so not books you want to carry in a backpack) and they looked a bit more like the books I was not ready for yet (that changed one summer when I decided to investigate and discovered Captain Blood but I never read any of them more than once as I was doing with the other 3 authors. Add another year and I discovered Science Fiction and the rest as they say is history).

What I did not appreciate back then is how much closer Sabatini was keeping to the actual history compared to the show more other 3. I did not care really - I was reading them for the adventures and it took me awhile to start looking at novels for their historical background.

The story starts in 1685 in England during the last acts of the Monmouth Rebellion. Peter Blood, an ex-soldier and current doctor, decides to behave like a human being (and a doctor) and helps an wounded man. Unfortunately for him, the man is a rebel and the current laws make Blood a rebel as well so he is arrested and eventually shipped to Barbados as a slave (which may or may not have been an improvement - as he tells the reader, had he been tried a day earlier, he would have been executed). As it is, he ends up in the hands of one of the English governors who believe everyone else to be under them. Peter Blood finds his way - he may be a slave but he is also a doctor and he even falls in love. Then the Spanish show up, things get a bit complicated and he ends up a captain of a pirate ship and his adventures continue at sea before ending up back on Barbados for the end of the novel - although not in a way anyone expects. And I am happy that Sabatini did not decide to give our captain a fairy tale ending - it would not have fit the narrative. He did leave it open enough though.

The novel works both as an adventure novel and as a historical one (if you don't have issues with reading about the battles). It ties together the story of England between the Monmouth Rebellion and the Glorious Revolution 3 years later and the story of the Caribbean islands exploitation and the pirates that spawned at the time. Most of the characters are invented by some are the real people who lived and even most of the invented ones are based on actual people - changed, merged, split or otherwise manipulated but the read like 17th century people. I read a non-fiction book about the Caribbean pirates a few years ago (Buccaneers of the Caribbean: How Piracy Forged an Empire by Jon Latimer) so I had a bit of a background which helped but Sabatini's story covered the same ground in a lot better way in places despite being fiction. Which does not happen often.

Sabatini never continued the story - what is considered a continuation by some is actually a set of stories set during the pirate years of Peter Blood. That leaves the whole Peter Blood story spanning a bit over 3 years (although we hear a lot about the years before that as well). And despite the somewhat open (or unhappy if you want to call it that) ending, I think that was the right choice. show less

Where have all the good men gone?!

Our protagonist Peter Blood is definitely a product of the the late 19th and early 20th centuries: a too-clever and too-handsome gentlemen rogue whose only real weakness is his need to be liked.

And the thing is: I welcome this stoicism— as I consume today’s media in other forms where we are swimming in morally ambiguous anti-heroes, I find myself beaten down by the onslaught of grey- or sepia-toned worlds. Peter Blood’s unyielding need to be liked by a woman, and his unwavering patience in his mission of making “evil” men-in-power pay is refreshing. Even if it might seem boring in summation.

Captain Blood is a fast-paced swashbuckling adventure that doesn’t waste a lot of time on things that show more don’t matter. You’re not stuck learning about the politics of the 17th century or how a frigate operates for whole chapters— at least, you’re not being forced to work for it— the narrator of the story is there to help you bridge those gaps within the course of his re-telling. show less

Some books provide pure pleasure from beginning to end, and this is one of them. Sabatini is a brilliant storyteller, and this is surely the ultimate pirate tale. Except that Peter Blood is no pirate. Rather, he is a man unjustly made a slave, who, despite the continuing injustices done him by the English, Spanish, and French, remains true to an inner code of honor that even extends itself to alter the natures of the predominately motley crew who serve under him. After reading this, the surface joys of watching Johnny Depp as a pirate seem absurd. While Sabatini's characters fit mostly into neat stereotypes, he fleshes them out through brilliantly rendered action scenes and superb, delicious dialogue so that the whole story takes on a show more real life and provides a whole world for the reader to revel in. There are no dull moments, just a series of cascading pleasures as the story draws to an immensely satisfying conclusion. show less

I am of an age that remembers spending Saturday afternoons at my local movie theater with a bag of popcorn and a box of milk duds and a coke that in total cost me about a dollar. The movies (and there were always two of them----with a cartoon just to get you going) were 50 cents. Those hours were magical and movies have never been better. They say you can't go back home again; but reading Captain Blood took me right back to being 10 years old. The hero is larger than life, as good with his brains, and his rapier wit, as with his sword. The villains are nothing short of despicable. I can hear the chorus of 10 year old cat-calls and jeers at their every appearance. Captain Blood may be the perfect adventure novel. Seriously. Get yourself show more some popcorn, a quiet place to read, and be prepared to be entertained. show less

I've loved pirate adventures for as long as I can remember. I've picked up Sabatini's novels at Barnes & Nobel so many times it's pathetic…what's more pathetic is that I never bought one…until this past summer.

Part of the tipping point was that The Classic Tales podcast was offering an audiobook version of Captain Blood at a stellar price. Add to that the fact that BJ Harrison does a wonderful job in his readings, and I was determined to pick up the audio book and the novel itself for some summertime reading. Starting in August, I would listen to segments of the audio book and then also read passages from the novel to catch up and to glean more depth (the audio was unabridged, but since I was driving, I occasionally missed bits show more while concentrating on the crazy drivers around me).

The adventure of Captain Blood is amazing. The writing is beautiful and captivating. Peter Blood's wit and logic are wonderful and help create him as an amazing hero, pirate and gentleman. His resolve is indefatigable. His creativity and persistence are superb. His adventures are tense and exciting while also being well crafted and believable.

Sabatini creates in the world of Captain Blood, a vision of 17th century Caribbean that falls right in line with everything that encapsulates my visions of buccaneering pirates sailing the seas.

The characters are vivid and believable. There are certainly stereotypical typed characters, but even with these, Sabatini adds subtle nuances to create some depth. To the central character of Blood, I found myself sympathizing and relating to intimately. At times he felt a little too cool and collected, so I was glad that, as we reached the climax and started to wrap things up, his personality took on a harder edge based on the trials and his even keeled personality took on a cynicism worth exploring. He became a truly n-dimensional swashbuckler that I'll hold up for examination when diving into other pirate adventures.

While this story was filled with tons of wonderful adventure, excruciating tension, and exciting scenes of ingenuity, there were also some passages that slowed the pace down considerably through historical narrative and exposition on the nature of things in this time and place of history. In spite of slowing things down, these passages were still very interesting and added a wealth of depth to the story. I merely point this out to warn potential readers who are looking for a non-stop adventure that there will be moments of expository narrative as you sail the seas with Blood.

In addition to these historical interludes, readers should also be aware that a budding romance adventure lurks beneath the surface here. This certainly isn't a romance of the Victorian style such as you might find with Jane Austen, but there is a romantic feel…both in terms of romanticizing the life and times and in terms of an actual romantic relationship between Blood and another character. To those adverse to romance in their adventures…don't worry, the romantic scenes are short enough that you should survive discussions of culture, civility and the nature of man while Blood 'chews the fat' with the girl of his dreams. I actually found the romance a delightful addition to the narrative. Like the adventure itself, the romance was well constructed and full of tension and problems. In fact, I sometimes found myself more frustrated at the perils of romance than at the perils of the battles.

Overall, I can whole-heartedly recommend Captain Blood as an excellent novel. It is a wonderful portrayal of piratical adventure. It is very well written and contains significant historical information suggesting tons of research (not being a historical expert, I can't separate the history from the fiction…but Sabatini made a believer out of me, whatever the case).

Errol Flynn, the well-known portrayer of adventurers, played the title role in a 1935 film adaptation that I'm now intrigued to see. I've seen Flynn in The Sea Hawk and Robin Hood and am sure he'd make a fun Captain Blood.

So, if you have any inkling towards historical adventures, particularly pirate adventures, I definitely recommend you pick up Captain Blood. He'll swash your buckle and plunder your adventuring spirit.

*****
4.5 stars show less